[Quote No.35476] Need Area: Friends > Conversation "While birds can fly, only humans can argue [differ and disagree]. Argument is the affirmation of our being. It is the principal instrument of human intercourse. Without argument the species would perish. As a subtle suggestion, it is the means by which we aid another. As a warning, it steers us from danger. As exposition, it teaches. As an expression of creativity, it is the gift of ourselves. As a protest, it struggles for justice. As a reasoned dialogue, it resolves disputes. As an assertion of self, it engenders respect. As an entreaty of love, it expresses our devotion. As a plea, it generates mercy. As charismatic oration it moves multitudes and changes history. We must argue -- to help, to warn, to lead, to love, to create, to learn, to enjoy justice, to be." - Gerry SpenceAuthor's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this AuthorStart Searching Amazon for GiftsSend as Free eCard with optional Google Image

[Quote No.35806] Need Area: Friends > Conversation "[Like Ben Franklin - refer his autobiography for advice to his illegitimate son - self-improvement lists and rules Have helped many successful people throughout history become their best selves. Here are some that George Washington, the first President of the United States thought important.]
(As a young schoolboy in Virginia, George Washington took his first steps toward greatness by copying out by hand a list of 110 'Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.' Based on a 16th-century set of precepts compiled for young gentlemen by Jesuit instructors, the Rules of Civility were one of the earliest and most powerful forces to shape America's first president, says historian Richard Brookhiser ['Rules of Civility: The 110 Precepts That Guided Our First President in War and Peace', editor Richard Brookhiser].
Most of the rules are concerned with details of etiquette, offering pointers on such issues as how to dress, walk, eat in public and address one's superiors. But in the introduction to the newly published 'Rules of Civility: The 110 Precepts That Guided Our First President in War and Peace', Brookhiser warns against dismissing the maxims as 'mere' etiquette. 'The rules address moral issues, but they address them indirectly,' Brookhiser writes. 'They seek to form the inner man (or boy) by shaping the outer.'
Brookhiser says the advice the rules offer, though often outlandish in detail, is still applicable in our day and age: 'Maybe they can work on us in our century as the Jesuits intended them to work in theirs — indirectly — by putting us in a more ambitious frame of mind.')
The Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation:
(For ease of reading, punctuation and spelling have been modernized.) [I have edited them to those most closely associated with communicating well.]
1. Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present.
19. Let your countenance be pleasant but in serious matters somewhat grave.
20. The gestures of the body must be suited to the discourse you are upon.
22. Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of another though he were your enemy.
23. When you see a crime punished, you may be inwardly pleased; but always show pity to the suffering offender.
43. Do not express joy before one sick in pain, for that contrary passion will aggravate his misery.
45. Being to advise or reprehend any one, consider whether it ought to be in public or in private, and presently or at some other time; in what terms to do it; and in reproving show no signs of cholor but do it with all sweetness and mildness.
46. Take all admonitions thankfully in what time or place soever given, but afterwards not being culpable take a time and place convenient to let him know it that gave them.
47. Mock not nor jest at any thing of importance. Break no jests that are sharp, biting, and if you deliver any thing witty and pleasant, abstain from laughing thereat yourself.
48. Wherein you reprove another be unblameable yourself, for example is more prevalent than precepts.
49. Use no reproachful language against any one; neither curse nor revile.
50. Be not hasty to believe flying reports to the disparagement of any.
56. Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for 'tis better to be alone than in bad company.
58. Let your conversation be without malice or envy, for 'tis a sign of a tractable and commendable nature, and in all causes of passion permit reason to govern.
63. A man ought not to value himself of his achievements or rare qualities of wit; much less of his riches, virtue or kindred.
65. Speak not injurious words neither in jest nor earnest; scoff at none although they give occasion.
73. Think before you speak, pronounce not imperfectly, nor bring out your words too hastily, but orderly and distinctly.
74. When another speaks, be attentive yourself and disturb not the audience. If any hesitate in his words, help him not nor prompt him without desired. Interrupt him not, nor answer him till his speech be ended.
82. Undertake not what you cannot perform but be careful to keep your promise.
86. In disputes, be not so desirous to overcome as not to give liberty to each one to deliver his opinion and submit to the judgment of the major part, especially if they are judges of the dispute.
87. Let your carriage be such as becomes a man grave, settled and attentive to that which is spoken. Contradict not at every turn what others say.
89. Speak not evil of the absent, for it is unjust.
110. Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience. " - George WashingtonFirst President of the United States of America.
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[Quote No.35864] Need Area: Friends > Conversation "For where is the man that has incontestable evidence of the truth of all that he holds, or of the falsehood of all he condemns; or can say that he has examined to the bottom all his own, or other men's opinions? The necessity of believing without knowledge, nay often upon very slight grounds, in this fleeting state of action and blindness we are in, should make us more busy and careful to inform ourselves than constrain others." - John Locke[1632 – 1704], an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers, often being called ‘the Father of Liberalism’. His ideas about mind, social contract and political philosophy influenced many including the American revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the American Declaration of Independence. Quoted from his work, 'A Letter Concerning Toleration: Humbly Submitted'. Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this AuthorStart Searching Amazon for GiftsSend as Free eCard with optional Google Image

[Quote No.35866] Need Area: Friends > Conversation "I attribute the little I know to my not having been ashamed to ask for information, and to my rule of conversing with all descriptions of men on those topics that form their own peculiar professions and pursuits!" - John Locke[1632 – 1704], an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers, often being called ‘the Father of Liberalism’. His ideas about mind, social contract and political philosophy influenced many including the American revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the American Declaration of Independence. Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this AuthorStart Searching Amazon for GiftsSend as Free eCard with optional Google Image

[Quote No.35871] Need Area: Friends > Conversation "We should have a great fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves." - John Locke[1632 – 1704], an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thinkers, often being called ‘the Father of Liberalism’. His ideas about mind, social contract and political philosophy influenced many including the American revolutionaries. His contributions to classical republicanism and liberal theory are reflected in the American Declaration of Independence. Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this AuthorStart Searching Amazon for GiftsSend as Free eCard with optional Google Image

[Quote No.36144] Need Area: Friends > Conversation "Human language [and its incredible acuity and nuance] appears to be a unique phenomenon, without significant analogue in the animal world. [To not use it well is to deny our full human potential.]" - Noam Chomsky[1928 - ], an American born linguist, philosopher and political activist who serves as a professor emeritus of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is considered by many to be the father of modern linguistics. He has authored more than 150 books to date and is known as much for his prolific writing as his political descent and anarchy.Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this AuthorStart Searching Amazon for GiftsSend as Free eCard with optional Google Image

[Quote No.36328] Need Area: Friends > Conversation "Freedom [of expression] is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear. [Their right to freedom of expression, in turn, is the right for them not to listen or, if having listened, to be able to express their responses!]" - George OrwellGeorge Orwell [1903 – 1950], was the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, who was an English author and journalist. His work is known for its keen intelligence and wit, profound awareness of social injustice, and an intense opposition to totalitarianism. He is best known for the dystopian novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ (published in 1949) and the satirical novella Animal Farm (1945)—they have together sold more copies than any two books by any other twentieth-century author.Author's Info on Wikipedia - Author on ebay - Author on Amazon - More Quotes by this AuthorStart Searching Amazon for GiftsSend as Free eCard with optional Google Image